The Social Network Blu-ray Review

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Every time Oscar season rolls around there's always at least one movie that's deemed "overrated" by viewers, pundits and critics. While there's some debate about which film that is this year, there's a growing consensus that it's The Social Network. And while that thought holds water on many accounts – the film is, more or less, a botched, sexed-up, largely fictional retelling of Facebook's sordid history – I'm continually surprised by how brutally absorbing and enjoyable the movie is, even upon repeat viewings. The Social Network may be a flawed beast, but it's a damn entertaining movie.

For those living under a rock, the film details the creation of Facebook at the hands of young Harvard entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg, who knocks out a truly riveting performance). As is usually the case with billion-dollar ideas, Zuckerberg is accused of stealing Facebook from two rather brash Harvard twins, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer, though Tyler is doubled by Josh Pence). To make matters worse, he's also sued by his longtime friend and co-founder of Facebook, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). What follows is essentially an account of how Zuckerberg weaseled his way around his "enemies" and his "friends" in order to create the popular social networking site.

At its core, the script (from West Wing creator-writer Aaron Sorkin) wants you to harbor distaste for Zuckerberg. But at the same time, director David Fincher almost paints him as this bizarre anti-hero, which comes as no surprise given the colorful semi-unlikable anti-heroes Fincher has toyed with in his previous films, specifically Fight Club. The picture's lighting, color and set design even borrow a few pages from that film. The result is a movie that's both curiously entertaining despite its somewhat dry legal sequences and intoxicatingly debatable. What's real? What's fake? Is Zuckerberg a bad guy? A prophet? Is Facebook the root of evil? Was it all just for a girl?

While there are quite a few flaws to uncover, and many of them are falsely detrimental to the real character of Zuckerberg (for example, he did not create Facebook to spite a girl – all accounts suggest his anger ended with Facemash), Fincher manages to take Sorkin's wayward, lopsided – and biased – script and manufacture something truly fascinating, moving and thought-provoking. This is not a film that's clear-cut. Interpretation of the film's themes, metaphors and characters is continually open for debate. And keeping the lines of interpretation open within the film is one of the picture's greatest strengths.

But yes, The Social Network may be an overrated film. It's the sort of film HBO would have made for TV a few years back (same writer intact). But that doesn't make it a bad movie. Not one bit. Rather, it's a garbled origin story for Facebook – a false history that'll likely become canon unless someone steps up and gives a real account of what actually went on. But underneath the flawed historical layers of this film there sits an intriguing story about a man whose power, ambition and pride are well worth examining. And the film does an admirable, if sloppy, job attempting to reach into Zuckerberg's mind and show us something compassionate despite how ugly it may appear on the surface.

The Social Network hits Blu-ray with all the bells and whistles one expects from a David Fincher film. In fact, the only missing ingredient is a Digital Copy. Here, you'll be treated to two genuinely wonderful commentary tracks, both found on disc one. The first track is from Fincher, who curiously defends and admits to some of the film's flaws, and the other is from Sorkin and the male members of the cast, who further outline their intentions with the narrative. I guess Rooney Mara and Rashida Jones didn't have interesting characters or any insight into the film to be included on the commentary -- at least that seems to be the unfortunate viewpoint of the filmmakers/producers who also excluded them from their SAG ensemble cast list (body double Josh Pence was nominated instead). But I digress.

Disc two boasts a brilliant feature-length making-of documentary, four wonderful featurettes (mostly focusing on visual effects and music), an interactive feature which allows viewers to listen to an early version of Trent Reznor's soundtrack, and a multi-angle interactive feature which takes apart the "Ruby Skye Sequence." The set is BD-Live enabled as well (on disc one), and features are presented in HD.

The film itself boasts a magnificent, detailed, sharp AVC transfer with not a flaw in sight – at least not as far as the encode is concerned. That said, color design is a bit morose, painted with warm browns, grays and ugly fluorescent, seedy bathroom yellows. Fincher's visual choices, while gorgeous in their own unique way, are growing a bit stale. This is, at least, the fourth or fifth movie he's made with this palette. Also, there's quite a bit of black bleed in the print – a flaw of such a dark visual design.

The most striking aspect of this presentation is, without a doubt, the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track. Given that this is a dialogue-heavy, somewhat procedural re-enactment woven around a deposition, one doesn't expect a lively sonic experience. But Fincher and his sound designers do not disappoint. This is a positively splendid high-res mix, layered with aggressive, organic surrounds, roaring bass and crisp, clean dialogue. What a knockout.

The Social Network may be an overrated film, but it's most certainly not an overrated Blu-ray. With a near-reference transfer, a reference audio mix, and hours of wonderful special features at its disposal, The Social Network is a must-own title, especially for fans (and even critics) of the film.